Our summer institute is the first program ever of its kind: An academic camp that invites high school students from all over the country to attend a seven day intensive course that is facilitated by the most successful poetry slam artists in the past decade. Students should expect to leave camp with an initial mastery of both stage and page poetry, chapbook, all while belonging to a permanent network of artists who can offer advice and mentorship in the future.

Learning Objectives

Students will learn the rich history of the spoken word movement and the 25 year history of Poetry Slam by dissecting literary texts, analyzing performances, discussing conventions, inferring the societal implications of certain literary works, and drawing connections to previous literary movements such as Romanticism and the Beat era.

Students will learn poetic conventions, practices, and skills that will prepare them to be critical readers, proficient writers, adept editors, and dynamic performers.

Students will learn by watching live performances and will be given expert coaching and mentoring from the most accomplished Spoken Word Artists in the last decade in the areas of reading, writing, revising, performance, networking, and artistic entrepreneurship.

Students will learn how to facilitate their own poetry open mics and Slams, perform and compete on a regional and national level, book their own tour, submit manuscripts for publication, create their own product such as chapbooks and CD's, market themselves as artists, and how to utilize the network of the expansive and successful spoken word community.

Students will leave camp with a completed set list of original poetry, sellable merchandise (such as a chapbook or CD), a strategy for performing on the national spoken word circuit, and will have long-term mentors to help them in their path as blossoming artists and entrepreneurs.